CENTENNIAL OF TOM BRACKEN
Author of Not Understood And "God Defend New Zealand" HOMAS BRACKEN is the bestknown New Zealand poet. There is no doubt about that. It is true that most lovers of poetry would deny him the title of poet at all. Challenged, they might admit that once or twice he just touched the fringe of poetry. But his name and some of his work are familiar to more New Zealanders than the name and work of anybody else. Bracken lives by three poems
-*"Not Understood," "God Defend New Zealand," and "God’s Own Country." The first is, or was, beloved of reciters throughout the English-speak-ing world; the second has become our national song; and the third gave rise to a popular phrase.
These, and other aspects of Bracken’s work are recalled by the centennial of his birth, which falls on December 21. Station 2YA will mark the occasion by a Bracken programme in the evening of that day. There will be a talk on Bracken, in which his career will be sketched, and some curious facts stated about the popularity of his work. For example, the vogue of "Not Understood" in America, where it has been used to mend sundered friendships, and where claimants to its authorship have appeared. A setting of the poem as a solo will be broadcast. Reference will also be made to the history which J. McDermott told in The Listener three and a-half years ago, of "God Defend New Zealand," words and music-how it became known here and abroad, and was officially established as our national song. a
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 234, 17 December 1943, Page 9
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265CENTENNIAL OF TOM BRACKEN New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 234, 17 December 1943, Page 9
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